1. Field of the Invention
My invention relates to musical instruments, and more particularly to electrical stringed musical instruments of the violin type, i.e., the type in which sound production is initiated by the bowing of the strings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The term "prior art" as used herein or in any statement made by or on behalf of applicant means only that any document or thing referred to as prior art bears, directly or inferentially, a date which is earlier than the effective filing date hereof.
Electrical stringed musical instruments of the violin type are known in the prior art.
An electrical stringed musical instrument which is preferably adapted to be bowed is shown and described in U. S. Pat. No. 3,691,285, issued to Spencer Lee Larrison on Sep. 12, 1972. The electrical stringed musical instrument of this patent is provided with a head of generally conventional type, although the center line of the neck bearing the head forms an acute angle with the center line of the body in order to make the instrument more comfortable to play. The bridge of this instrument contains a plurality of electrical pickups each of which is associated with one of the five strings thereof. Each of these pickup devices is coupled to a separate preamplifier stage, each preamplifier stage is provided with its own manually operable volume control, and these preamplifier stages and their associated mixer amplifier are contained within the body of the instrument.
A simulated violoncello is shown and described in U. S. Pat. No. 4,235,143, issued to Robert S. Hoexter on Nov. 25, 1980. The pickup of this instrument is a magnetic pickup which is slidably disposed in tight-fitting relation in a rectangular slot formed in a front portion of the body just above the bridge. The head of the Hoexter instrument takes the form of an open frame through which the tuning keys pass, the outer ends of the strings being secured to their corresponding tuning key shafts.
An electrical stringed musical instrument of the "stick" type is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,219 which was issued to John A. Alm, on Aug. 23, 1988. As is characteristic of "stick" type violin instruments, the instrument of Alm is headless and has no bouts. Since it is completely lacking in bouts, the instrument of Alm lacks a chin rest, and instead is provided with a neckpiece which fits like a collar around the neck of the player. This neckpiece is provided with a jacket which serves as padding to make the collar comfortable and also help to position the neckpiece relative to the player's neck and shoulders. It is stated in the Alm patent that, preferably, the neckpiece fits snuggly enough about the neck of the musician so that the musician can remove his hand from the instrument and it will extend in cantilever fashion out from his neck. Alm further states that it is then possible to control the position of the instrument by upper body movement. It is evident to a person having ordinary skill in the art, however, from FIG. 1 of Alm, that any control over the position of the instrument provided by the neckpiece of Alm is in no sense comparable to that of the control provided by a chinrest of the well known type, particularly during the tuning of the instrument, when it is highly desirable that the position of the instrument be rigidly maintained without the use of the musician's hands so that the tuning keys can be manipulated efficiently and with precision.
Also, the tuning keys of Alm are back-mounted, rather than side-mounted, so that the axes of the tuning keys extend generally perpendicularly to the fingerboard, rather than generally parallel thereto, rendering the manipulation of the tuning keys more difficult than is the case with tuning keys the axes of which are generally parallel to the fingerboard.
Further, the machine heads of the instrument of Alm are so located with respect to the bridge that different strings make different angles when passing over the bridge, resulting uneven string tension from string to string, which not only creates problems in the use of the instrument by also renders difficult the use of a single piezoelectric pickup.
Yet further, it will be seen by those having ordinary skill in the art that the tuning keys of Alm are located close to the neckpiece of Alm, and remote from the bridge thereof, which makes the manipulation of the tuning keys of the instrument of Alm relatively inconvenient.
It is further to be noted that the anchoring means provided for anchoring the upper ends of the strings of the Alm instrument are so constructed and arranged that certain strings thereof assume different angles from other strings when passing over the outer bridge or nut.
It is also to be noted that in the instrument of Alm the ratio between the interbridge or bridge-to-nut distance and the distance from the bridge to the musician's neck does not correspond to that of a conventional violin, i.e., the fingerboard of the Alm instrument is located too close to the musician's body to be comfortable and easily played by a conventionally trained violinist.
A guitar-like instrument with magnetic pickup is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,751, issued to Emmett H. Chapman on Sep. 3, 1974. The instrument of Chapman has nine strings and is "tuned in an unique manner", so that it is not well adapted to serve as a simulated violin.
Magnetic pickups for use in electrical stringed musical instruments are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,455,575, issued to Clayton Orr Kauffman and Clarence Leo Fender on Dec. 7, 1948; in U.S. Pat. No. 2,933,967, issued to Joseph G. Riscol on Apr. 26, 1960; and in U.S. Pat. No. 2,978,945, issued to Rudolph Dopera and Edward E. Dopera on Apr. 11, 1961.
A copy of each of the above-described United States patents is supplied to the United States Patent and Trademark Office herewith.
No representation or admission is made that any of the above-discussed patents is part of the prior art, or that a search has been made, or that no more pertinent information exists.